


You're My Gloxinia - Discontinued (read chapter 11 for info)

by Verlor3n



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: A lot of flower language, A lot of them are OOC, Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Character's Name Spelled as Hanji, Eren Yeager is a Little Shit, Eren writes AOT, Florist Levi, Fluff, Forgive Me, God Jean is an asshole in this one, Levi is a bit OoC, M/M, Nonbinary Hange Zoë, Oops, POV Levi, Past Jean Kirstein/Eren Yeager, Slow Build?, Some angst, Tattoo Artist Eren Yeager, Trying to keep this happy, actually, ereri, golly me, not much?, oof, riren - Freeform, sure.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:20:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24009514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verlor3n/pseuds/Verlor3n
Summary: So, you opened a flower shop and fell for a bratty, walking coloring book, huh?
Relationships: (&'s are friendships), Armin Arlert & Eren Yeager, Hange Zoë & Levi, Levi & Eren Yeager, Levi & Erwin Smith, Levi/Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman & Armin Arlert, Mikasa Ackerman & Eren Yeager, past jean kirstein/eren yeager - Relationship
Comments: 43
Kudos: 76





	1. Petunias, Orange Lilies, and Geraniums

**Author's Note:**

> Ereri shit I promised!! I'm so happy with how this has come out so far. Please enjoy the first chapter!

When you’re given a bouquet of flowers, what’s the first emotion you experience? More than likely, it’s happiness or thankfulness. Now, however, what if you knew what all the flowers meant? Each individual flower has something it represents, be it love or kindness or playfulness. Some, on the other hand, don’t exactly represent all the lovey-dovey, fluttery feelings people might suspect at first. Yeah, that’s right. Some flowers are assholes, even if they _do_ look like the Milky Way.

When Levi clocked in for the day at eight in the morning exact, he didn’t expect to have such an eventful Tuesday. He expected to sit at the counter and jot down orders from either callers or people who so happened to stroll in at the time. He expected to water the flowers in the back and enjoy his morning, minus his rather loud friend of whom just came through the back doors for their shift. He expected to walk around and manage any flowers that needed some extra love, as well as pick up any petals that were brushed off and fell onto the ground from people who didn’t pay enough attention to their surroundings. What he _expected_ was to not see a man stomp through the doors with seething rage radiating from his entire being.. Except, that rage was hidden under a well-forced, likely practiced smile. An _extremely_ well-forced, practiced smile.

“Hello!” the customer waved at Levi from the slowly closing door, closing his eyes and taking in the smell of the different flowers around the shop. “I’d like to order a bouquet.”

“That’s... Usually why you walk into a Florist, yes,” Levi said with a huff of breath. The customer paid the comment no mind, however. “What can I get for you?”

The man opened his eyes and revealed a sight Levi had never seen in the thirty-two years of his quite boring life. The turquoise shades around his irises hinted at a harsher green just at the bottom that dazzled in the early morning sunlight. Levi watched as the customer walked closer to the front desk with his clearly angered smile still on his face. If anger is making you smile, something’s up. No one smiles like that unless someone else just waged war on you or stomped on your grandmother’s prized possessions. Maybe both; who knows?

In this time, as well, Levi got to take in the other details of the man in front of him. His hair was a grey-ish brown and was tied back into a bun. Small tufts of hair escaped the hair tie and drooped in front of his face, making him look even more ethereal. Levi had already fawned over his eyes earlier; how it was almost the carbon copy of the ocean, but it was still worth mentioning. He had a longer, dark grey sweater on him as well as black-washed jeans. It’s not like it was wrong to wear a sweater and jeans at this point, seeing how it was still early spring and a little chilly. The sight of tattoos was truly a sight, however. The customer rolled up his sleeves - since the shop was warmed to accommodate for the flowers - and revealed a bountiful amount of tattoos. There were irregular and geometric shapes, as well as dragons and other animals that coated his arms. Levi could probably spend hours trying to figure out what the guy had. You’d think you’d get ink poisoning at some point after all of that was poked into you. There was another dragon tattoo around his neck, inked with all different shades of red. It had some sort of flower petals coming out of its mouth, but Levi didn’t know what kind. On the back of the man’s right hand, a chrysanthemum tattoo was barely present. Its ink was either fading or maybe it just wasn’t finished. Levi didn’t know. It’s not like he would have to begin with.

“Well,” the customer started, shoving his hands into his denim-jean pockets. “What’s the best way to tell someone “ _suck my dick, you little shit_ ” in flowers?”

Okay, well, Levi knew the guy was pissed at something. Nevertheless, he didn’t exactly expect him to say something like that. Levi heard a muffled laugh from his friend around the corner and in the green house where they stored the rest of the flowers. This was going to be a trip, certainly.

“Uh,” Levi started. Nice job, starting a conversation with filler. “Well, we can get you something _along those lines_ , but not exactly in those words.”

“Oh that’s perfectly fine, I just need something that looks nice but really means I want to rip off their dick and feed it to sharks or something,” the man leaned his side against the countertop, waving his hand around in circles with his annoyed smile never fading from his face. Beautiful face, Levi added. “You know, as you do.”

As you do? _As you do_ ?? That isn’t exactly something people say at the end of those indirect threats, but who was Levi to say anything about that? It’s not like he knew why the guy was angry, and he wasn’t about to prod. “What’s got you in a frenzy, anyways?” or maybe he was. Come on, it had to be asked. You don’t just let someone walk into your shop, have them ask you for a hateful bouquet, and then _not_ question why the hell they’re so pissed. Basic knowledge here, my friends.

“Stupid boyfriend is all,” the guy replied with a growl in his throat. Clearly, it was more than stupid. “There’s a better word for him rather than stupid-” yeah, see? There we go. “-but let’s just say it isn’t as PG as I’d like it to be.” 

“You just walked in and asked me to make a bouquet threatening the safety of someone’s... pride and joy. I don’t think you have to worry about it being PG or not anymore,” Levi sighed, taking out a notebook and pen. They needed a paper copy before they could put anything into the computer. The man laughed a little into the back of his hand, humoring Levi for a second before it died down. “Is that all? When would you like it done? Pick up or delivery?”

“That’s all,” the guy started. “As soon as possible, and I’ll come around and get it.”

Levi wrote the man’s order down and nodded, putting the notepad away and moved over to the computer. The man’s attention had drifted off to the clusters of flowers on the back wall and down the rows in the center of the shop, his ocean-like gaze focused a little too strong on the hyacinths. Levi could only guess why. This man was full of questions that Levi really, desperately wanted answers to. But he wasn’t about to meddle in some dude’s personal affairs, no. That didn’t make up for his previous slip-up, though.

“Can I get a name?” Levi asked with a little cough, hoping to bring the man back to reality. And it seemed to work, since the distant look in the man’s eyes snapped.

“Right, sorry about that,” the man tilted his head back to Levi and pushed himself off the counter, rubbing the ends of his fingers on the faded chrysanthemum. “Eren.”

“Last name?” Levi’s voice deepened. Come on, there were several people named “Eren”, expect the spelling was different. “And spell it please. Both first and last.”

“Yup yup,” Eren smiled, this time a little softer than when he first walked in. “E-R-E-N for the first, Yeager, Y-E-A-G-E-R, for the last.”

“German, huh?” Levi said quietly, quiet enough to keep the customer from hearing him. He typed the Eren’s name into the register, clicking at a different slot for his number before glancing back up at him. “Phone number? So we can call you when it’s done.”

Eren told Levi his number, the florist tacking away at the keyboard without an expression visible on his face. Eren watched as Levi continued to poke at something, but was unable to see the screen since it was, you know, not facing him. Eren could only wait until Levi was done, so he decided to focus his attention back on the hyacinths on the back wall. Levi glanced up at Eren and noticed his eyes were focused on the flowers again, the urge to ask him why he was so damn adamant on staring down the hyacinths almost forcing its way out of his mouth. But Levi shook it off with a short sigh. It still wasn’t his problem.

“We’ll likely get back to you later today,” Levi closed the window he had open on his computer, tapping the countertop to attract Eren’s attention. Not like it had any sort of secret purpose, Levi just wanted the dude to stop staring down the poor flowers. He would kill them with his stare alone if he wasn’t careful enough. “Have a nice day.”

“You too! Thanks for the help,” Eren shot Levi a smile that reflected that of the sun’s burning light. Levi was almost tempted to squint. “See ya!”

And with that, the strange, answerless customer left. Levi couldn’t help but watch as Eren whistled his way down the street, hands in his pockets and seemingly over the anger he had earlier. At least he wasn’t going to scare off anyone else he might talk to later. 

“Golly, what a sight,” Levi’s friend from around back poked their head through the swinging doors of the green house, holding back their laughter. “Didn’t know you could just.. _Boom_ , love on someone.”

“You know what, Hanji? If you don’t drop it, I’ll make sure you can never feel that “boom, love” for someone ever again,” Levi threatened, taking one of the shovels from under the desk and threw it at Hanji. The coworker dodged and picked up the shovel, waving their hands playfully in Levi’s direction. “Go away. Focus on making the guy’s bouquet. And I did not go all “boom, love” on him.”

“Right right, you tell yourself that... I never understood why someone as rowdy as you would open a flower shop,” Hanji cackled, pulling their head back through the doors. “What did you want to use anyways? It’s not like I talked to him.”

“Petunias, orange lilies and geraniums,” Levi said, listing off the flowers from his fingertips. “All run along the lines of “hate”, at least.”

“Right-o,” Hanji saluted Levi and got to work, gathering the flowers from further within the green house. “Wonder why he was so pissed. I only caught a couple of things while I was wandering around back here.”

“I hope you didn’t ruin anything...” Levi clicked his tongue with a roll of his eyes. “He said it was about his boyfriend.”

“Oh golly, romance troubles,” Hanji took out a pot of orange lilies from one of the corners of the green house, dropping it a couple feet away from Levi. “You gonna help?”

“You can cut them. I’ll arrange them well enough that it at least looks presentable,” Levi hated getting dirt on his hands. He’d take hours scrubbing the dirt off, even if it wasn’t there anymore. Why did he want to open a flower shop again? “These flowers will look horrible together.”

“You usually make weird flowers look good together, I don’t doubt you can do something about this... Mix,” Henji gestured to the pots of flowers that really did not go well with each other. The striking orange of the lilies didn’t mix with the dark blues and purples of the geraniums and petunias. “If you’re mad enough to walk into a Florist and ask for a bouquet like this, whoever is receiving it isn’t going to see the light of tomorrow.”

“Yeah well, it’s not my problem, Hanji.” 

“Oh, but I could see just how interested you were in his story. The little flicker of light in your eyes was practically begging the poor guy for answers,” Hanji cut off a couple flowers from the geraniums, setting them gently down on a clean cloth. 

“I’ll end you.” Levi threatened, but at this point, Hanji was so used to them that they didn’t mind to much. They shrugged it off with a laugh. 

“Right right. You’ve had the ten years we’ve known each other to kill me, Levi,” Hanji shuffled over to the pot of petunias and cut off a stem or two, moving over to the lilies and finished the cuts. “You could probably call the guy back now. The bouquet is gonna be done in like, the next hour or so. It’s not like we really have any other orders to complete.”

“Let’s wait until it’s done first.”

\--

And so they did wait..... Through a couple fights and thrown piles of dirt, that is.

“WHAT DO YOU _MEAN_ YOU CRUSHED THEM?!” Levi’s shrieks filled the customer-less air as he chased down Hanji with a clump of dirt in his hand. He had a glove on, though, so no dirt was actually touching him. Thank god for his future self and the soap he would have to destroy. “YOU CLUMSY _APRICOT_!!”

“HEY! DON’T CALL ME THAT! IF I’M AN APRICOT, THEN YOU’RE A CORELESS APPLE!” Hanji fought back, flinging a bit of dirt at their friend from the shovel they were holding. The dirt landed a couple centimeters from Levi’s foot, to his luck. If it touched him, he might have made Hanji _eat_ some of it off the ground. 

“Excuse me?” someone called from the front, the two employees unaware of their customer. “Is there anyone here?”

“EAT MY DICK, HANJI!” Levi shouted back, totally scaring off the unfortunate soul who just wanted a bouquet of flowers. “I’LL MAKE YOU CLEAN THIS UP! I CAN FIRE YOU!”

“BITCH, YOU LIVE RIGHT ABOVE THIS SHOP! I CAN DESTROY YOUR APARTMENT IF I REALLY WANTED TO!” Hanji started laughing as they jumped over empty pots and discarded containers that they promised to throw away. “AND YOU CAN’T FIRE ME! I’M THE ONLY OTHER EMPLOYEE HERE!”

Levi finally chucked the pile of dirt in his hands as his friend, the earthy bits splattering all over Hanji’s back. They laughed again. “YOU’D BETTER CUT MORE FLOWERS OR I SWEAR TO ANYTHING THAT’S GOOD IN ME-!”

Hanji laughed harder than before, grasping their sides in attempts to lessen the cramping. They got right back to work after composing themselves, knowing that yelling wasn’t exactly professional. Hanji starting cutting a couple flowers off the bundles that they’d originally gotten for Eren’s order, setting them down on another piece of cloth like the one from before. Levi watched over Hanji like a hawk does its prey, tapping his foot on the ground angrily with his arms crossed as well. He didn’t want them to destroy another batch of flowers. He’d have to order more.

“Here you go!” Hanji handed over the flowers to Levi with a cheeky grin and innocent aura. Levi knew damn well they were not innocent. “Not squished this time.”

“You should start paying attention to where you’re _walking_ ,” Levi grumbled, snatching the flowers away from their hands. “I’m going back out front.”

“Yup yup!”

Levi propped himself on the stool behind the front desk and crossed his legs, his arms still folded against his chest. He wondered back to Eren, who’d come into his shop with pure rage surrounding his every being. He wondered back to the boyfriend Eren mentioned; who pissed someone off that badly? You’re their partner. If you can’t have a toxic-free relationship, don’t be in a damn relationship. Word of advice kids, don’t date idiots. They’ll only ruin your life later. If you think your relationship is going well in the beginning, beware of the future. Your loving partner could turn out to be an over-aggressive asshole.

Levi got out some wrapping paper and plastic-y shit; he didn’t understand why they were still using plastic, but whatever. On to the arranging bit, Levi had no idea how to actually do it. The colors were vomit-inducing. Who matched orange and blue together? Horrible color choices, really. Now, if you were going to do a paler, pastel color palette with orange and blue, sure. But darker, more striking colors like this? No. Don’t ever do that.

“I can’t even think about where to begin...” Levi muttered. Just then, the door to the shop opened, the little bell hanging above the edge ringing softly. Levi looked up at the new customer and realized they weren’t new. “Oh, you’re back. Why?”

“Wow, thanks. You’re so polite to your customers. If that’s the case, does that mean I have to be nice back?” Eren chuckled, shoving his hands into his pockets. Levi noticed he did that a lot. “And I was just walking by. I felt like coming in, is all. Good to know I came in at the right time; seems like you’re almost done with the flowers.”

“Oh my, a brat,” Levi gasped sarcastically, setting the flowers aside. If the kid wanted the bouquet done, he’d get to wait a little longer. For annoyance purposes, nothing else. “Didn’t see that one coming. I thought you were the nice, smiley pushover kind.”

“I’m far from a pushover,” Eren leaned up against the counter like he did before, except his focus was strictly pinned onto Levi. Not the flowers on the back wall or the ground, but Levi. The playful glare in his eyes sent shivers down Levi’s spine. He couldn’t look away from him, though, unfortunately or fortunately. “And the only reason why I was all nice and smiley is because I’d rather not start shouting at the employees. Trust me, I understand your pain when it comes to terrible customers.”

“What? You work at the supermarket or something?” Levi continued to joke. “It wouldn’t surprise me. You look like you’re sixteen.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go around making fun of people's looks, _midget,_ ” Eren gestured to Levi with a wave, a smirk growing around the corners of his mouth. “I saw you get up earlier and the difference from you sitting and you standing was very slim. And I’ll have you know I’m twenty-two.”

“So still a brat,” Levi shot back, rolling his eyes and placed the flowers in between him and Eren. “Where do you work exactly? It’s not like many places would put up with your attitude.”

“And they would tolerate you? Man, I didn’t know egos could go so far. I feel bad for whoever runs this shop,” Eren laughed. Levi tried his best not to laugh as well. Instead, he scoffed. “I work at the tattoo shop just down the street. I own the place.” Levi didn’t expect that. Well, he had a feeling the brat worked with some sort of tattoo chain, but owning the place? 

“If you own a shop, I’m surprised it’s still up and running,” Levi stuffed the flowers into the plastic wrapping paper, tying a rubber band around the bottom of the stems and handed it over to Eren. “For your information, I own this place. Here’s your bouquet. Petunias for anger and resentment, Geraniums for stupidity, and orange lilies for hatred. That’ll be twenty-five dollars, ten dollars tax for aggravating me.”

“Can you even do that?” Eren seemed a little baffled. Levi shot Eren a harsh glare from the cash register, Eren backing down with a sigh. “Fine fine. Gimme a second.”

Eren handed Levi a credit card, to which Levi swiped it and handed it back. Levi didn’t charge ten dollars extra, no, but he did charge a dollar fifty. Typical tax, Eren didn’t mind. If he did, he didn’t say anything about it after it popped up on the little screen above the register. Who complains about tax? Only privileged people, that’s who.

“Thanks again,” Eren put his card away back into his wallet and headed to the door, pausing just before his hand could grasp the handle. “What was your name? I didn’t catch it.”

“I never offered it.”

“Okay you know what-” Eren huffed a laugh, calming himself before he could do anything stupid. A smart move, Levi thought. “Can you tell me your name, Mr. Annoying-flower-guy?”

“‘Annoying-flower-guy? Do you even want me to tell you my name?” Levi scoffed, shooing Eren out the door. “It’s Levi. Now go deliver those to your boyfriend or whatever you told me earlier.”

“Oh we’re not dating anymore, that’s for damn sure,” Eren’s aura suddenly dropped, his brows furrowed and eyes no longer shining like they were when he was happy. Happy-ish. However, there was still that forced smile on his face. How much did this guy practice his angry grins in the mirror? He looked like a damn pro. “I’ll come by and tell you how it goes! See you, Levi!”

“You really don’t have to,” Levi sighed, knowing Eren didn’t hear him.

The shop was quiet again. There were still questions unanswered, but Levi didn’t mind as much this time. He got to know the annoying, tattoo-riddled customer better... Ish. Beneath the mask of Eren’s hospitality and kindness was a brat. A backtalking, snarky, cocky, totally ~~hot~~ not hot brat. 

“Overheard that convo,” Hanji stepped in, leaning on the doorframe to the green house. “That’s some tension going on there. Didn’t he say he worked at the tattoo parlor just down a ways? We could totally stop by.”

“Yeah like I'd do that.”

“Of course you would, Levi. You haven’t had fun berating someone besides me in forever. I hope you noticed how your brows wasn’t scrunched up while you talked to him, or how your eyes seemed more relaxed,” Hanji threw their arms around Levi’s shoulders, almost knocking him off his stool. “You like him already, don’t you~?”

“No, I don’t.” Levi was quick to deny it. But looking back at it, he did feel less shitty talking to him. Levi no longer had to be nice and civil with him like how he had to act to other customers. Eren already seemed fairly open about his personality, and Levi only met him this morning. Not to mention his looks, more specifically, his eyes. They looked like freshly made marbles that captured what poets and writers dreamt about. They were blinding-... Uh.. “Oh no.”

“Oh no?” Hanji repeated.

“Oh no.” Levi dragged his hands down his face, groaning into his palms. “I think I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh me oh my, don't we love a good start to a story, lmao? 
> 
> Thank you for reading! And thank you for all the love on my previous story too. I don't know how many times I'm going to say this, but you guys really are amazing <3\. 
> 
> Flower meanings for the title (they're also somewhat mentioned in the story):
> 
> Petunia: Anger and Resentment  
> Geraniums: Stupidity and Foolishness  
> Orange Lilies: Hatred, Disdain, Pride
> 
> Come over and say hi!  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/BigOlOnigiri)
> 
> [Tumblr](https://lonelym00nstone.tumblr.com)


	2. Borages, Gardenias, and Buttercups

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two! Hope you enjoy :3

What is a flower to you? A symbol? A sign? A gift? A picture? A flower is a delicate little thing, to most. Something that breaks under the slightest pressure from some sort of outside force. It’s a beautiful sight to behold, really, but one wrong move and it’s all over. One wrong move, and you could kill the flower and any meaning it might hold. 

When you think about it, flowers are like people. People are beautiful and unique, but they share the same delicacy. People are easy to break, even if you don’t realize it. Everyone has emotions that are easy to damage or walls that are too easy to smash. In a way, we are all flowers. One wrong move to a flower is like a wrong move to a person. And it’s very hard to try and reattach a flower’s petal. When you break a person’s trust, for example, the chances of you earning that trust again are slim to none. A broken petal leaves you with a broken heart.

Eren didn’t come back for another two days. Levi waited for him, unaware that he actually was. A subconscious wait, if that was even a thing. He restocked the flowers he’d been selling with Hanji recently and tidied up the shop a bit. A couple trims here, a couple sweeps there. Wipe down the windows and organize the shelves. Nothing too strenuous. 

Hanji brought up the idea that, because it’s spring, they should put out a vase of flowers every day or so. Now, Levi wasn’t the kind of person who liked having flowers out on display, he was more of a “walk in and figure it out yourself” kind of guy. Although the front wall was made entirely of glass - what Florist doesn’t have that? - he still hated having display cases. But because Hanji insisted - countless times, might I add - on the idea, Levi gave in. Don’t give in to peer pressure, kids. Just don’t. 

“What kind of flowers?” Levi asked in a monotone, gesturing to the wide variety in the main shop. “It’s  _ your  _ idea.”

“No no! I want  _ you  _ to choose!” Hanji pushed Levi out from behind the counter and sat on his stool, just counting the seconds until Levi eventually snapped. “Your little lover’s heart can choose whatever flowers you desire~! Golly, what was his name again?”

“Hanji,” Levi growled, narrowing his silver eyes at his friend. “I’ll bury your body in the green house. It’s not that hard to cut someone up and use their body parts as fertilizer.” don’t do this either. A lot of the threats in this are not advised to be executed. “And his name is Eren.”

“Cute!” Hanji cooed. “And have you thought this through before? You seem awfully sure of yourself.”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I have? Years of knowing you and  _ not  _ having a murder plan?”

Hanji scoffed, albeit entertained by Levi’s bluntness. Hanji knows better than to believe their friend’s empty threats, since Levi loved them even if he wouldn’t admit it. Levi walked into the back and gathered some flowers for Hanji’s offer; gardenias, borages, and buttercups, to be exact. He took a vase from one of the back shelves and walked back into the main shop, pouring a little water and flower food into the bottom of the vase before putting the flowers into it. Hanji nodded happily.

“Awh... You know what the meaning of those flowers is, right? You’re so romantic!” Hanji cooed.

“I hate you sometimes.” Levi groaned.

“Nah, you don’t.”

Levi’s attention was drawn from Hanji to the front door, the little bell ringing against the frame. His eyes widened at the sheer sight of the customer in front of him. He looked like shit. Like, “just battled a demi-god and lost” shit.

“I’m back,” Eren smiled weakly, rubbing the back of his head. “I promised I’d tell you how it went, didn’t I?”

“What the hell happened to you, brat?” Levi, even when worried, always added a little bit of rudeness just for good measures. Eren laughed at it, clearly enjoying the fresh dose of Levi’s asshole-ness.

“Uh, rough night. Fought a bunch, almost punched the shit out of someone,” Eren described his previous evening like he’d done it before. That both worried and relieved Levi, seeing how Eren wasn’t too depressed that he would make jokes about it. Even so, maybe joking around like that right after a big fight isn’t the best coping mechanism.“I can at least say for certain that I’m single now.”

“Oh honey, would you like some tea or something?” Hanji offered, brows furrowed in sympathy.

“You don’t have to, I’m good,” Eren replied. “What kind are we talking about, though?”

Hanji walked over and pat Eren’s shoulders a couple of times, flashing him a quick smile before making her way into the back. “It’s Chamomile.”

Levi and Eren were left to themselves in awkward silence. Eren avoided looking at Levi and opted to stare down the vase of flowers on the front desk. “New display?”

“Hanji made me,” Levi said. 

“Your friend?” Levi nodded to Eren’s question, who gestured to the back door. 

“It’s a cute arrangement,” he and Levi grinned at each other before looking away again. “So uh.. How’s business?”

“It’s what you’d expect from a Florist. How’s tattoos?”

“Oh you know.. Spring time calls for flower tattoos and weird... other things,” Eren rolled his eyes and sighed, fiddling with a strand of his hair with one hand, the other in his pants pocket. “I don’t understand people who get seasonal tattoos. It’s not like you can get rid of them when spring turns to summer. Or any season becomes another season.”

“You’re covered in flowers, what room do you have to talk?” Levi didn’t mean to make it sound like it was intrusive or disrespectful, but Eren knew that. He laughed. 

“Come on, the flowers have meaning,” Eren replied with a smirk, his shitty look from earlier dissipating. Levi knew it was a good sign, at least. “I don’t get tattoos that have no story to it. My motto is, “if you’re going to get inked, don’t fucking waste my time with meaningless bull”, or something.”

“‘Or something’, huh? That motto seems like it was on the spot,” Levi scoffed. He leaned back a bit and folded his arms, hiding the grin that begged to appear on his face. “I get it though.”

“See? Thanks for reasoning with me, Levi,” Eren walked over to the front desk and away from the doors. He didn’t want to block anyone from coming in. “I should probably go open my shop... What time is it?”

“Do you really not know what fucking time it is? What are you, a high college student?” 

“Actually, just a sleep-deprived, caffeinated, broken-hearted twenty-two-year-old,” Eren said matter-of-factly. “And no, I really don’t. At some point, time just sort of mushed together and I have no idea what’s going on anymore. Again, rough night.”

“Time is just a made up thing the government wanted us to believe in to control us,” Hanji commented jokingly, bringing in a tray with three cups of chamomile tea out of the green house. “Levi, I used your stove and I may or may not have accidentally spilled some of the tea bits over it.”

“Did you  _ clean it up _ ?”

“Uh. no? The stove was hot?”

Eren guessed either Hanji or Levi lived above the shop. If not, they just randomly had a stove in the back room. But who would have a stove back there? Not to mention a whole tray and cups? Either they were really weird, or the first option was the truth.

“Here you are, Eren!” Hanji offered Eren one of the cups of tea, the vicenarian downing it in a matter of seconds. Hanji and Levi both stared at Eren horrified. “That was.. Piping hot, Eren.... How did you not  _ burn  _ yourself?”

“Years of chugging coffee with do that to you,” Eren laughed, handing the cup back to Hanji. “I should go open my shop. Have fun you two!”

Eren waved at the both of them and turned around to leave, the little smile that he had going immediately falling into a frown. He opened the door and left, the bell just above the door echoing through the silent store.

“Damn he looked like shit..  _ Real  _ rough evening,” Hanji mentioned, watching Eren trudge down the street. “That boyfriend of his really did a number on him. Who knows what happened between them? We should ask him the next time he comes around!”

“Let’s not,” Levi said bluntly, taking the offered tea from Hanji. “Don’t be rude, shitty glasses.”

“Hey! I wasn’t being rude! All I want to do is help!”

“Your definition of help is just turning the conversation around so you can bore him with weird science shit.”

“I mean... You’re not wrong.”

“When am I ever?”

“When it comes to romance, you’re always wrong. In the “I’m not in love” department, that is.”

Levi glared at Hanji until they disappeared into the green house. The phone rang a minute later, an order the next. Shockingly, they haven’t been getting many orders for bouquets or other deliveries this spring. It is the beginning of the season, though, so it’s to be expected. 

A couple of hours passed and Levi’s mind wandered to Eren. Maybe he should pay a visit to the tattoo parlor. Yeah, he’ll do that. It’ll get him away from Hanji at least. Gives him a good excuse to ogle at the brat too, but he would never admit that.

“I’m going over to Eren’s shop,” Levi announced, hopping off the stool and wandered over to the door. “I’ll be back. Don’t burn the place down.”

“Have fun confessing!” Hanji shouted from across the shop.

Levi rolled his eyes and exited, taking in the early morning air. It was crisp and very.. Spring-y. Not that he minded, per se, but it was a little too cheerful for his taste. Well, Levi took it back. He minded.

Just as Eren had said, the parlor was just down the street. It didn’t stand out all that much, which Levi was thankful for. “Titan Tattoos”, the shop was called. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Levi shook it off, pushing open the black stained glass door. Inside was what you’d expect out of a tattoo shop; the walls were riddled in designs, all signed by the people who made it - mostly Eren, some of other customers probably. The wallpapers were a dark purple and black with striking red drawings hand painted onto it. The ground was a black tile with little, gold, sparkly bits in it. Flashy. There were benches to both Levi’s left and right and a counter in the center against the back wall. It was cute and spacious, Levi declared.

“Hello hello!” someone said from further within the shop. “Welcome to Titan Tatt- Oh hey, Levi!”

Eren’s eyes landed on Levi immediately, the ocean shimmering like it had been when they first met. Levi noticed how the parlor’s lights hit his irises, making the blues and green stand out more than they had been before. They glowed happily at the sight of the older, raven-haired man. Levi swore he saw flecks of gold in between the blend of greens and blues. It was like the brat had the entire rainbow; Levi wouldn’t be shocked if he did. “Didn’t expect to see you here! Getting something inked?”

“Nope. Just wanted to get away from Hanji,” Levi admitted. Although, the thought of a tattoo crossed Levi’s mind every now and then. “Maybe later, I don’t really know.”

“Well,” Eren shrugged, leaning on his elbows against the countertop. “If you ever decide to get one, you know where to find me. Don’t go anywhere else, they’re all a little gross around here.”

“Oh? What makes your shop so special, pretentious brat?” Levi smirked, crossing his arms. “I hope running a shop hasn’t gotten to your head. I could leave bad reviews just from this conversation.”

“Oh come on, you have to admit there are some untrustworthy tattoo parlors out there,” Eren laughed. Levi walked closer to Eren and sighed, lightly smacking the top of the brunette’s head. “Oi!”

“One of these days, I’m going to have to knock some sense into you.” 

“No thanks, old man.”

“I’m not even that old,” Levi replied, clearly offended. “I’m only thirty-two, god. Not even middle aged yet.” 

“That’s old in my books,” Eren snapped back, eyes still glued to Levi’s face. 

“Hey, Eren, the customer wants to talk to you about-” another employee strolled out into the open from behind the back wall, eyes moving from behind them to in front at Levi. They had black hair that was cut around their shoulders and piercing, grey eyes with a face that expressed little to no emotion. They reminded Levi of a certain someone. Not himself, totally. No, surely not. “Another customer?”

“Nah, just an old man I know,” Eren shrugged, pointing his thumb at Levi mockingly. “What did the guy need, Mikasa?”

“He didn’t really tell me,” Mikasa answered with a sag to her shoulders. “I swear, people need to stop being so... vague and  _ bland _ .”

“I’ll go see what’s the deal,” Eren turned his attention back from Mikasa and onto Levi. Someone pegged at Levi’s heart when Eren’s eyes met his; sharp and playful, like his attitude. “I’ll be back. We can still chit-chat if you don’t end up running off, Levi.”

“Depends.”

Eren flashed a quick grin before walking past Mikasa, leaving the two stoic employees alone. “You’re Levi?”

“It sounds like someone yaps about me,” Levi nodded. 

“Eren hasn’t stopped talking about some florist guy across the street for about three days,” Mikasa admitted, leaning against the door frame. “Good to know he’s made more friends.”

Friends? Were they friends? Honestly, their relationship was sort of just a “stop by and insult each other” ordeal. Friends were people who had each other’s numbers and actually liked each other, instead of, you know, insulting one another. Eren didn’t even know Levi’s last name, let alone a phone number. 

“You could say that, sure,” Levi ended up saying. 

“Just don’t fuck up his emotions, would you? He just went through a break up and I’m not exactly in the mood to deal with anyone who decides they’re going to hurt him,” Mikasa shot a warning glare at Levi, who, in turn, shot one back. “He’s fragile. He may seem like a little shit-” you got that right. “-but he’s not exactly emotionally stable. If you do anything that makes him cry or make his self-esteem any worse than it already is.. I have a perfect spot to hide a body in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.”

Levi could only nod at Mikasa’s threats. He already knew about the break up and how forced Eren’s mood was earlier that morning. He could tell, when he walked into the parlor, that Eren’s sadness lingered over him, but at least he looked a little more steady. There were still bags under his eyes, still a hint of glossiness, not to mention the twitchy grin he kept shoving in Levi’s face.

“Apparently the guy-” Eren trudged back into the front with a hand wrapped around the back of his neck, breaking Levi’s inner monologue with a click of his tongue. “-just really wanted to complain. Do you realize how hard it was to get his order right in the first place? Apparently we didn’t even do it correctly. Now I gotta refund the whole thing and try to fix whatever mess he agreed to in the beginning.. I feel like some of these fuckers just want to piss us off.”

“I can go talk to him, or I could get Armin to say something,” Mikasa offered, looking relatively worried. Wow, an emotion.

“No.. No, it’s fine.” Eren sighed heavily, shoving his hands into his pockets with a frustrated groan. He looked up from the ground and noticed Levi was still waiting around, scanning the designs on the walls. Eren’s brows loosened and a smile crept up on his mouth, Mikasa’s tense atmosphere also loosening. “You’re still here? Didn’t expect that.”

“What, you wanted me to leave, brat?” Levi’s eyes were still staring down one of the designs on the wall. It was of a dove whose feathers were falling out, each one becoming flicks of flame as it fell further away from the dove. “I totally could.”

“But you didn’t. You lost your chance to leave without me pestering you about it later,” Eren leaned back against the counter, only to realize he still had that customer to deal with. “Shit... I still have to fucking-... Ugh, god these people in this fucking city are going to kill me.”

“Seriously, do you want me to call Armin?” Mikasa offered again, her phone already in her hands. “We know that he’s better at debating with someone than us.”

“Oh yeah, I’d just beat the man senseless until he eventually understood that I’m sick of his shit,” Eren laughed, pointing at Mikasa with a grin. “You too, except you likely wouldn’t get caught later.”

Levi snorted, knowing how true that is despite only knowing the two of them for a short period of time. Well, he knew Eren for longer, but three days doesn’t get you enough information on the person.

“Hey, don’t laugh. Maybe I’m getting better at hiding evidence,” Eren light threw a pen at Levi - of whom caught it - and continued laughing, shifting his eyes away from the older man and onto the computer screen. “You just wouldn’t know because, you know, I haven’t been caught.”

“You keep rambling on about not getting caught and one of these days, you will be,” Levi rolled his eyes and tossed the pen back at Eren, who tried to catch and failed. It landed on his head. “Who knows. Maybe I’m an undercover cop.”

“Yeah like that would be a thing,” Eren scoffed, typing away the rude customer’s order. He had to refund the man, as well as take more time to fix the tattoo that was already on his skin. Another appointment had to be scheduled, and honestly, that was another sort of mess.  _ Hassle _ , not mess.  _ Hassle.  _ “You’re too...  _ you _ ... to be an undercover cop.”

“Thanks? Is that a compliment?”

“Sure. Whatever boosts your ego.”

Mikasa hid a smile as she turned around, patting the door frame a couple of times to get Eren’s attention. “I’m going to talk to the customer; try to change his mind about this. If no one comes back out, know that the man is dead and I’m disposing of his body.”

“Thanks, Mikasa,” Eren didn’t look away from the screen, but smiled considerately to his friend. “If you need help with cutting him up, ask.”

“You really don’t know what the word “subtle” is, do you? God, if you’re going to murder a man, you don’t go around telling the people who are in your shop about it,” Levi meandered his way from one side of the store to the other after finishing his examination of the designs to his left. “Who taught you this? The threats, I mean.”

“My father,” Eren said. “He was a doctor. Did a bunch of dissection-y things and it was fun to watch, really. I’d sometimes go with him to the hospital and I’d sometimes - very rarely, might I add - get to watch them perform surgery. Behind a window though, since like, I don’t have a license. I learned how to make insults from using all those doctor-y, medical terms. Kinda lost it though..”

“Who the fuck thinks dissection is fun to watch?” Levi held back his lunch. He hated anything that made a mess,  _ especially _ bloody messes. 

“Well, I mean, come on. Being instructed on how to cut apart a frog is really cool when you’re ten,” Eren pressed the enter key on his keyboard and sighed, moving away from the computer and leaned back on the counter. “And when you’re me.”

“You’re just fucking messed up in the head.”

“I’ve been told that, yes. Several times, actually.”

Levi stopped in front of one of the designs closer to the entrance. It was a dragon that had lotus flowers coming out of some of its scales, as well as its mouth. Its eyes were replaced with vines and its wings were like lilypads. Eren’s signature was at the bottom of the piece, along with a little message saying “for Christa”. “You also have interesting choices in tattoo designs.”

“Oh, that one was for a friend of mine. She loves mythology and lilypads, so I mixed them together for her,” Eren explained, waving his hands around a bit. Honestly, Eren seemed to speak more with his hands than he did with his own mouth. “She said it was cool to have it up for other people to choose, so I hung it up.”

Levi hummed in response, moving over to another design to its right. It was of a strange meat face with a skinless jaw that flashed its teeth at you. There were chains making a cross at the bottom of the head, and in the three empty sections were sigils of sorts. To the left of the chains was a shield with roses and thorns. To the right was a unicorn - green - and that was about it on it. And at the bottom, there were a pair of wings - one blue, one white. Levi pointed to the drawing and looked at Eren.

“Oh, that? That’s just a personal sketch of mine,” Eren rested his chin on the back of his hands, closing his eyes to think of something intensely. “I’m writing this story, you see, about military whatnots. The unicorn one is for the Military Police, the roses for Stationary Guards, and the wings for the Scouting Legion. The face in the middle is a titan. They’re these man-eating creatures, and the three branches - the logos - have to fight them off to save all of humanity. No one knows why they’re a thing.... Yet. Haven’t gotten to the point of revealing it, but it’ll happen.”

“So the reason why this parlor is called “Titan Tattoos”...”

“Is because I opened this place after I started working on my novel, yes,” Eren finished Levi’s sentence for him with an affirmative grin, nodding his head against his hands. “I’m telling you, it’s a great story so far. So much revision though.. I’m on like.. Chapter ten right around now, and let me tell you.. The word count has already surpassed seventy-thousand. And I’m not even near half done. I plan on having this shit be a good, long series too.”

“Jesus,” Levi breathed out his shock. That was a long ass novel already; he wasn’t even near halfway if Levi heard correctly. “Maybe I’ll read it if you ever publish it.”

“I’ll let you know then. I’ll give you my first copy.”

There conversation died and left them in silence. Comfortable silence, though. But it was interrupted by Mikasa, who swung back out from the doorless entry.

“The customer has successfully been convinced to  _ not  _ flip his shit,” Mikasa shot Eren a thumb’s up, meaning he could delete whatever he was writing before. “We’re just gonna have to charge him a bit less.”

“That’s one stuck up customer,” Levi whistled, moving away from the wall of designs, eyes hesitant to leave them. Eventually, they did. He stopped in front of Eren and glanced at the clock behind him, squinting a bit to actually read the blurry numbers on it. He needed to get glasses. “Shit, I gotta go.”

“Come back anytime, Levi!” Eren waved down Levi as the older man left, walking down the sidewalk and to his own shop. 

“He’s cute,” Mikasa pat Eren’s shoulder a couple of times, giving him a gaze that could only say one thing. “I’ll allow it.”

“E-excuse me? I just broke up with someone!” Eren’s face flushed bright red. Mikasa left to avoid the backlash of Eren’s emotions, helping the annoying customer instead. “Jeez...”

\--

“S-o-o, how was it~?” Hanji was quick to pester Levi about his visit to Eren’s shop, not even letting the guy breathe for a moment. “Was it cute? The shop, not the kid. We already know the answer to that.”

“It was nice,” Levi agreed, ignoring the last comment from Hanji. It wasn’t really “cute”, but it was okay. Well, kind of cute, but not..  _ Cute _ . “Clean; good atmosphere. The designs on the walls were.. Interesting. Did you know he was writing a novel? A series of novels, actually.”

“Oho?”

“Yeah. Apparently it’s about some man-eating titans or whatever. He named his shop after it.”

“You sound infatuated with not only the kid, but his writing too~. So adorably romantic, Levi.”

“I’ll take you out, shitty glasses.”

“With like... A gun, or?”

“A gun. Maybe a bat. I’m not going to take you out to dinner or whatever you were thinking.”

“Oh god, thank you. I’m already with someone and it would just be awkward. Not to mention your  _ flaming _ and I wouldn’t want to get in the way of you and Eren.”

“ _ Hanji _ .”

“Yeah yeah, I’ll get to work before you beat me up. You’re too short to really hit my face or something. The best you could do it probably take out my kneecaps,  _ midget _ .”

Let’s just say, by the end of the day, Hanji had dirt all over her, as well as Levi. The poor florist almost passed out. Levi spent a good two hours scrubbing his hands and body to rid himself of any sort of dirt debris, while Hanji took about fifteen minutes. The differences are extremely wild.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter three will be up at some point soon :3. I'm working on finishing chapter 4 up and then 5. 
> 
> Flower meanings:  
> Borages: Bluntness, Directness  
> Gardenias: Secret Love  
> Buttercups: "You are attractive"


	3. Purple Hyacinths and Sweetpeas

There are many different definitions of love. The first is, “an intense feeling of deep affection”, which categorizes as a noun. The second, “a formula for ending an affectionate letter”, which is still a noun. The third is, “[to] feel a deep romantic or sexual attachment to [someone]”, which is a verb. There are also other ways people use the word love, like British people for example. They use it as a term of endearment. “Don’t worry about it,  _ love _ ”. The usage of love here is not meant like “I like you”, but more of a nickname or just a pet name like “sweetheart”. 

But, do you understand what love is? Love is such a hard concept to wrap our heads around. We think love is something more than what it actually is. You’re in a toxic relationship and say you’re in love? That’s not  _ love _ . You don’t know who someone is, yet proclaim your undying feelings for them? That’s not  _ love _ . There’s a difference between attachment and love. There’s a difference between a crush and love. Though, there’s nothing wrong with having a crush - there’s most certainly something wrong with a toxic relationship though - but when you think it’s love, it’s not. The word love has been thrown around so much that, in the end, does anyone know what the  _ real  _ meaning of love is? What it was meant to mean in the beginning? I don’t think so. Love is an empty word used for empty feelings, and no one really knows what it is anymore. No one can fill the word with meaning anymore. 

Today’s arrangement of displayed flowers: Bluebells, White Clovers, and Calla Lilies. All have meanings that Levi dares not to tell anyone, but Hanji always seemed to figure it out. They cooed and laughed and teased Levi to no end. Levi was doing his best to ignore them, but Hanji was the kind of person that could somehow wiggle themselves though someone’s barriers and really fuck up their nerves. Oh how unfortunate Levi is; being friends with a crazed woman with glasses. We all know people with glasses are crazy. 

Just kidding.

“Hanji, will you get off of me already?” Levi was so tempted to push Hanji onto the dirt-covered ground and watch them spend a good forty minutes trying to get the stains out. But because he’s a mature, older man, he wouldn’t.... probably. “God, they’re  _ flowers _ .”

“Not just any flowers, Levi!” Hanji sighed deeply with a smile on their face. She tilted her head onto her hands, which her at the side of her face and pressed together. What was she praying for? More than likely for Levi to get some. No. Wait.  _ No _ . “The last arrangement had the theme of love, and so does this one! You’re so head over heels for the boy! Just ask him out already!”

“Ask who out?” 

Hanji and Levi both turned their heads to the front door, a certain someone - of whom Levi didn’t want to see at the moment due to heart fluctuations - walking in. Eren stared at the shopkeepers with curiosity, cocking his head to the left with his blinding, ocean-colored eyes. 

“Eren! We were just talking about you-”

“NO WE WEREN’T.” Levi quickly covered Hanji’s mouth with his hands and dragged them into the back, leaving a confused twenty-two year old in the main building. “ _ Hanji I swear to pineapple pizza, I will destroy you if you continue to try and embarrass me. _ ”

“Oh don’t worry about me doing that, you’re doing a good job by yourself,” Hanji laughed.

“Do.. Do you want me to come back, or?” Eren knocked on the countertop, peeking through the circular, glass window of the swinging doors that lead to the green house. “I can totally come back..”

“No!” Levi shot through, biting his tongue at the sudden outburst. “Uh.. I mean, no.”

“See?” Hanji whispered, holding back a giggle. “You’re doing a good job yourself.”

Levi shoved Hanji further into the green house before walking through the swinging doors. He still held strong onto that stoic, emotionless face, but Eren noticed a slight twinge in his brows. “Need something?”

“Yes, actually,” Eren’s confusion disappeared like a flash and was immediately replaced with a weak grin. “I need a bouquet of hyacinths, preferably purple... And Sweetpeas, I don’t mind what colors for those.”

“What’s the occasion?” Levi asked, making his way to the back of the shop. He remembered when Eren first came in; he stared down the poor hyacinths Levi worried they might wilt. Thank god they didn’t, though. The sweetpeas were new, though. The meaning of the colorful flowers was lost to Levi.

Eren didn’t reply, his eyes trained to the ground. He tucked his hands into his pockets and Levi decided not to press further. Eren’s nervous habit, or what Levi guessed was a nervous habit, was hiding his hands in his pockets. Be it pants or jacket, he hid them. Ending his trail of thoughts with a short, not so noticeable sigh, Levi took some of the hyacinths from the shelf they were situated on and brought them back to the front counter to arrange them for Eren. 

Just then, the door opened and was shut gently by whomever appeared. Levi looked away from Eren’s mostly finished bouquet and groaned, rolling his eyes into the back of his head. Great. Another pain in the ass. “Erwin, what are you doing here?”

“Can’t I just come say hello?” the man named Erwin laughed, bold eyes switching from Levi to Eren. “Hello.”

“H-hi,” Eren looked away from Erwin’s intense gaze, feeling a hit of nervousness from it. Man, the guy was intimidating. 

“Here, Eren,” Levi handed the brunette his bouquet and rung it up, Eren paying quickly before making his way over to the front door. Levi noticed the glossiness in Eren’s eyes that weren’t there when he’d first walked in. Something was up. “Is everything okay?”

Eren paused, hand inches away from the doorhandle. “Yeah,” Eren turned his head back to Levi and smiled at him. Melancholic, might I add. “Everything’s good.”

And with that, he left. Erwin and Levi both watched the boy walk down the street and to the tattoo parlor, but he didn’t walk into it. Minutes later, they heard a car start and watched what they guessed to be Eren drive away. Yeah, something was up, and it wasn’t good.

“So,” Erwin cleared his throat, breaking the silence between them. Oh right, Erwin’s here. “How’s business?”

“Fine,” Levi replied. “Hanji’s in the back doing god knows what if you came to see her.”

“What makes you think I didn’t come by to see you?”

“Please,” Levi scoffed, folding his arms across his chest. “Don’t bother me while I’m working.”

Someone walked through the doors, Erwin stepping away to not block the whole entrance. Levi gestured to the customer and Erwin laughed, walking behind the counter and through the doors to the green house. Really, Levi had work. Just because you’re a friend of a shop owner doesn’t mean you can distract them. Don’t do this kids, you’ll more than likely get kicked out.

\--

Erwin stayed for a little longer than Levi had originally hoped. Today’s service was slow and Levi wanted to close up, but Erwin insisted on waiting for more customers to show up. Either Erwin just wanted to see Levi suffer, or he was trying to be nice. Levi guessed the former. 

“Seriously, get a room, you two,” Levi made a gagging motion and rolled his eyes, Hanji and Erwin both shaking off his attitude. 

“If you don’t mind me asking-” Erwin started.

“Oh I mind.”

“-what was with that one customer from earlier? Eren, was it?” Erwin finished, Levi’s shoulders stiffening. “Poor kid looked miserable.”

“Oh! Oh! You met Eren!” Hanji freaked, shaking the blond man back and forth. “Isn’t he adorable? What do you mean he looked miserable? Levi, did you annoy him with that personality of yours? I don’t get how the poor boy likes talking with you.”

“I did nothing of the sort,” Levi scoffed, sinking deeper into his chair. “He seemed out of it, though.. He got purple hyacinths, Hanji.  _ Purple _ .”

Hanji sucked in air through their teeth, eyes crinkling with sympathy. “He must have done something horrible... Or something horrible happened to him.”

“I think I’m the only one here that doesn’t understand what you’re both talking about,” Erwin chimed in, waving his right hand in front of Levi. The raven wanted to rip Erwin’s hand off, but didn’t vocalize it. Erwin probably knew right away. 

“Purple hyacinths mean “I’m sorry”, in a sense. It’s mean for extreme sorrow or forgiveness,” Hanji explained, tucking a strand of their brunette hair behind their ear. “And really, you only buy someone those flowers if it’s  _ bad _ . Maybe we should ask him what’s up when he comes back?”

“It would be rude to ask, Hanji,” Levi let out a short sigh, running a hand through his hair. “Maybe I can try...”

“Use your lover’s charm on the sad boy!” Hanji smacked Levi on the back, quietly wishing him good luck. 

If looks could kill, Hanji would be dead. Levi’s steel grey eyes pierced through her soul and promptly murdered it with its own two hands. Hanji felt a shiver run down their spine. “You need to calm down on this romance thing.”

“Romance thing?” Erwin looked like a dog that heard its owner say “time for a walk”. Blue eyes shone with excitement and curiosity, and Levi didn’t know if he wanted to destroy it or help it along. “Enlighten me.”

“Levi has a crush on Eren~!” Hanji blurted out in a song-like manner, pouncing out of their seat and pivoting on their right foot. “But he keeps denying it! Erwin, tell Levi that he has to accept his feelings and ask the guy out. They’ve been friends for about a week now, but you can see just how far Levi’s fallen for him~!”

“I mean,” Erwin pondered. “How bad is it?”

“How bad is  _ what _ , Erwin.” Levi dared the blond the continue.

“Well, first off, describe the boy to me,” Erwin sounded as if he was some sort of god at discovering crushes or whatever. He’s no mystic or therapist. God, this guy was aggravating. “Maybe it’ll do you some good to let your thoughts out on the boy first.”

“Fine. And he’s not a boy, he’s already twenty-two. Makes him a brat, sure, but not some insufferable kid,” Levi grumbled. Hanji took a seat next to Erwin, practically bouncing with excitement. What a bunch of sappy romantics. “He’s tall. Taller than me by about a good foot, unfortunately. But I’m older than him, so boom.”

“ _ He said “so boom” _ ....” Hanji squealed. Levi shot them another glare and silenced them. He sighed.

“ _ Anyways _ ... Uh.. He’s got ashy brown hair, if that makes sense. Does that even make sense? Sure as hell doesn’t to me... He’s got tattoos all over his arms and around his neck, and I’m going to have to guess on his back and legs too... God the kid probably looks like a coloring book,” Levi continued, holding back the urge to smack Hanji for being so excited about this. They were squealing again, to add context. “He owns the tattoo parlor down the street and it’s really clean-”

“For Levi to say something is “really clean”, it must be good.” Erwin whispered.

“- _ Shut up.  _ God, do you guys actually  _ want  _ me to tell you about him or are you going to keep fucking yapping?” Levi snarled at the two. “Continuing, he apparently he has a lot of tattoo designs based on a novel he’s writing... He named the shop after it too. It’s about these man-eating titans, and then there are different sort of military branches that fight for the sake of humanity... Or whatever he told me. He makes snappy remarks and it pisses me off to no end about how much of a brat he is, but it’s not bad.. Being around him and insulting each other.. And his eyes...”

“What about his eyes?” Erwin questioned, a kind smile creeping around his lips.

“I’m getting there, my god. Shut up for once,” Levi clicked his tongue in annoyance. But as soon as he got into the mood again, his eyes softened. “His eyes,  _ jesus _ , they’re like the ocean. There’s blue and green and I swear to god there’s gold too. One angle, his eyes look like what you’d expect of a nice, sunny day. Bright, blue, and full of life. At another angle, you’d see green. The type of green you’d see when you go out on a spring morning and take a walk around some park or some shit. And then there’s gold. Precious gold that you’d have to mine and work for and polish to no end to make it look presentable.. And at a whole different angle, you’d be able to see all damn three... When the sunlight hits it just right, you are immediately drawn to it and you just.. Just can’t look away from it. He’s really...  _ Hot _ ... I guess...”

Levi stopped his ramble with a shocked look on his face; eyes wide and mouth ajar with the realization of what he’d just said. He leaned forward and covered his face with his hands, groaning for a solid two minutes while Hanji laughed their ass off. He practically confessed his stupid, teenage love in front of his too annoying, “I never drop anything you say” friends. Friends? More like fucking  _ leeches _ . They feed off of Levi’s misfortunes.

“Well, Hanji, it sounds like he’s most certainly in love,” Erwin stifled a laugh. He rested a comforting hand on Levi’s shoulder, of whom was still covering his face to hide the redness on his cheeks threatening to ruin his stoic demeanor. “Just tell the boy how you feel already, Levi. It’ll do neither of you well if you keep it in.”

“You want to know what the fucking best part of all of this is?” Levi scoffed, waving his hand at Erwin’s to make it go away. Like a fly, really. “He  _ just  _ broke up with someone. He’s not in the mood for another relationship for at  _ least  _ a couple of months. And I can’t just waltz in and say I want to date him. What would that do to you, hmm? Oh, looks like you just broke up with someone who probably did you dirty, now let me tell you how I feel because I’ve disregarded your emotions for the sake of mine.”

“Now that you put it that way,” Erwin pondered.

“I’d really rather not put that kind of shit on him,” Levi sighed, finally lifting his hands off his face. The redness was faint, but still noticeable. “I think just having him come in and us harmlessly throwing insults at each other is good enough.”

“If that’s the life you want to live, go for it,” Hanji heard the bell to the front door ring. They got up out of their seat and made their way over to the swinging doors, resting a hand on the metal plate where a handle would usually be. “But I’m telling you, sometimes, right after a break up, newfound love is really all you need. Might not be the best, but knowing that you can love again right after your heart has been ripped in two really brings you out of that post-breakup state.”

And with that, Hanji went to help the customer with a polite, energetic greeting. “Oh! Levi! Get out here! You have a visitor!”

“Who the fuck?” Levi muttered under his breath, leaving Erwin by himself in the back. Levi pushed through the doors and readied an unimpressed glare, knowing full well no one visited him besides those troublesome two. 

The person standing behind the counter was someone Levi remembered vaguely. Well, maybe not vaguely, but he did remember them.

“Nice to see you again,” they said. “I’ve already said hello to your friend here. Tell me you remember who I am or I’m going to burn this place down.”

“No, I remember. You’re Eren’s friend, right? Mikasa?” Levi sighed.

“That’s correct,” Levi could see a hint of a smile, but it quickly died the moment he tried to register its presence. 

“Is there a reason why you’re here? Don’t tell me Eren did something stupid,” Levi folded his arms and rolled his eyes, awaiting the news. Eren more than likely did something stupid. “Cause I’m not going to help him out of it.”

“Nope, that’s not why I’m here,” Mikasa shot him a glare, clearly annoyed. “I haven’t seen Eren all morning. I’m stopping by to see if he came in here at some point.. Today is a.... Fairly important day, and I just want to know if you’ve seen him.”

Fairly important day? What’s so important about a Tuesday? “I have. He stopped by earlier and ordered a bouquet of flowers.”

“Then I know where he is,” Mikasa whispered, letting out a short puff of breath. She tugged at the red scarf around her neck and buried her chin in it. “Thanks. Have a nice day.”

“Hey wait,” Levi called out to Mikasa, the ravenette pausing. She looked back at Levi with sorrowful eyes, catching the shop owner off guard. “What’s up with the brat anyways?”

“First, don’t call him a brat,” Mikasa growled. “Second, that’s something you should ask  _ him,  _ not  _ me _ . Today is personal and he likely won’t tell you about it the day of, but you still should ask him. I’m in no right to tell you.”

“Someone died or what?” Levi tried to interrogate. That would explain the reasoning for hyacinths - and the sweetpeas, now that he remembered their meaning - and that would also explain the pained look in his eyes when he came into the shop earlier that morning. Mikasa flinched, averting her eyes to stare at the tile ground. “Spot on, I’m going to assume.”

“All I can say is that someone he held dear died today,” Mikasa sighed, opening the shop door. “Watch the way you speak to him for a couple days, would you?”

Mikasa walked through the glass door and sped-walked down the street, likely to the parlor and maybe to close up. 

\--

“To think the poor boy broke up with someone this week  _ and  _ a memorial for whomever passed away...” Hanji said quietly, leaning against the doorframe to the green house. “We’re gonna have to do something nice for the kid.”

“Like what, Hanji? We’re a fucking flower shop, it’s not like flowers are going to cheer him up,” Levi grumbled, but he felt the same way. He  _ was  _ going to do something nice for Eren, just not let anyone know about it. 

“Take him out for a date!” Erwin shouted from within the green house. He walked out of the doors and smirked at Levi, who was contemplating homicide. “There’s this nice restaurant Mike and I discovered not too long ago.”

“And you think I’m going to do that??”

“Maybe, you never know,” Erwin shrugged. “Come on, live a little. You’re probably one of the best candidates to make the kid happy again.”

“Really now? What makes you think that?” Levi was still debating on where the best place to hide a body was.

“Even if he looked sad, I could still see a small glint of love in his eyes,” Erwin spoke, waving his hand around. “He probably likes you too. And with what Hanji went on about, you two seem close, even after only a couple days of chit-chatting.”

“If you two keep talking about this romance bullshit I  _ will  _ actually break someone’s leg,” Levi growled, smacking both Hanji and Erwin on the back of their heads. “Because it’ll get you two to shut up, I will go and talk with him. Nothing else.”

“Good good!” Hanji cheered, pumping their fists into the air. “Have fun!!”

“He’s not even back yet, shitty glasses, calm your shit?? You think I’m just going to somehow find the damn brat??? Are you mentally okay?”

“I feel attacked, Levi.”

“You fucking should, Hanji, that’s the whole damn point.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flower meanings:
> 
> Purple Hyacinth: "I'm sorry", "Forgive me", sorrow  
> Sweetpeas: "Goodbye"  
> Bluebells: Humility  
> White Clovers: "think of me"/"Be mine"  
> Calla Lilies: Beauty
> 
> The next chapter may or may not be delayed. I've got this school shit going on and I need to focus on that a little more than writing :( I hope you can understand!
> 
> Come over and say hi!  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/BigOlOnigiri)
> 
> [Tumblr](https://lonelym00nstone.tumblr.com)


	4. Carnations, Hydrangeas and Dead Leaves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Are you good at controlling your emotions? When you encounter something terrifying, do you cower or do you try to put on a brave face? Or when you feel happy; do you smile or do you hide it with a scoff? How do you control other people’s emotions? Are you the sympathetic kind; the kind that’s there for anyone and everyone? Or are you the kind of apathetic bastard that couldn’t care less if someone’s mother died in a fire? What even are emotions? To you, that is. Emotions are strange things. They’re fickle; weak; they bring people down. But they also show strength. They show the hardships one has gone through. The stronger and more passionate your emotions are, the more open your heart is. The more control you have on your emotions demonstrates just the kind of traumatic situations you’ve experienced. It shows maturity and rationality.

  
  


Eren didn’t return to the Florist for a week. A whole week. Levi was by himself for a  _ whole week _ . Not that he didn’t expect to see Eren waltz in like he owned the place, no. But maybe he wanted to see him, just for the fun of it. 

Levi went over to Titan Tattoos and Mikasa was the only one working, other than some blond coconut kid, but that’s besides the point. 

“That’s Armin,” Mikasa told him. “You know, the one Eren and I were talking about the other day.”

Levi didn’t expect this Armin kid to look like he belonged in 6th grade, no less like a girl. But that didn’t matter. Apparently, Armin was someone Eren and Mikasa trusted more than they did themselves, and Levi was at least glad Eren had someone reasonably logical in his life. If he didn’t, Eren might have been either dead or in jail before Levi would have ever gotten to know him. 

“How’s Eren doing, by the way?” Levi ended up asking Mikasa, regretting opening his mouth the moment he started speaking. Eren wasn’t his priority, nor did he have to keep asking Mikasa about his wellbeing. Did that stop him, though? Apparently not. 

“He’s been at home,” Mikasa replied blandly. “He usually takes this week off, I’m not surprised anymore.. I would stay with him, but someone has to run the shop with Armin. I think it’s best to let him mourn; his emotions are stronger than mine.”

“So you’re saying he’s more immature than you? I’m not entirely shocked,” Levi joked, rolling his eyes. Maybe not the best time to joke; Mikasa didn’t look happy.

“It’s not that he’s immature,” Mikasa barked, glaring one of her signature glares toward Levi. Honestly, Levi probably discovered a dozen new glares by now. Who knew there could be so many glares a person could.. Well.. Glare. “It’s just that... While this person - of whom I will not name because it’s still not my place to say anything - was close to me, they were a lot closer to Eren. And he feels more responsible than I do for their passing...”

“Still won’t tell me details, huh?” Levi shrugged. He knew she wouldn’t, but this story keeps leaving Levi on the edge of his seat. He wants to know so he can do something nice for Eren; he doesn’t want to keep receiving answers that peg more questions. 

“Didn’t I just say it isn’t my place to say anything or are you going deaf? It’s gotta be the old age,” Mikasa grunted with a twitch to her eyebrows.

“Mikasa!” Armin shouted from deeper within the shop. He was probably giving someone a tattoo, it’s not like Levi knew. He was in the back when Levi arrived. “I heard that! Don’t be rude to the customers!”

“This old man isn’t a customer at this point, Armin!” Mikasa replied just as loudly. 

“Still!”

“I’m right here you know,” Levi said, Mikasa’s attention returning to him. “It’s kind of rude to talk about someone when they’re right in front of you.”

“Kinda don’t give a shit,” Mikasa shrugged.

Levi sighed heavily, running a hand through his bangs. “I’m going to open my shop. If Eren comes in, tell him I said good morning.”

“Maybe,” Mikasa ended up saying. “Depends if I feel like it.”

Levi huffed a laugh and left. He took his time walking back to his shop, knowing Hanji probably already opened up. Mostly because they’re constantly barging into his apartment, but the only way for them to do that is to take the opening shift. Not like there are really any shifts; it’s only him and Hanji. 

“Good morning, midget!” Hanji sang from the green house, waving their hands above their head. “We got our order of carnations and hydrangeas in this morning! They came by while you were at Eren’s parlor.”

“Exhilarating,” Levi groaned, eyes scanning the rows of flowers. To the left of the front two rows was a pile of flower petals, all fallen from the Daylily section. To be fair, those flowers only last so long, but it’s still annoying to pick up. “Tsk.”

Levi bent down and picked up the handful of colorful petals off the ground and dropped them into the trashcan underneath the front desk. Hanji was still organizing this morning’s order in the back. 

“Hey, Levi, I think we’ve got a worm problem!” Hanji called, barging into the main shop. “The Hydrangeas have worms...”

“And you didn’t inspect the flowers  _ before _ you paid the delivery person? Didn’t I tell you to pay more attention to the damn flowers you order?” Levi kicked open the doors to the green house and stared at the bush of Hydrangeas. There were, indeed, tiny, green worms wiggling around on some of the leaves. They were deeper into the bush, which is why Hanji probably didn’t noticed them at first. Thankfully, the bundle of carnations was perfectly fine. Levi let out a small sigh of relief on that part. “For God’s sake, Hanji, come on! Look at the sheer amount of  _ dead leaves _ at the base of the fucking pot. That’s got to give  _ something  _ away.”

“Sorry sorry! I’ll order a new batch,” Hanji sighed, whipping out their phone. “And hopefully get a refund.”

“What the hell are we going to do with all these damn Hydrangeas now?” Levi grumbled, taking a pair of scissors off one of the shelves to his right. 

He needed to replace the vase of flowers on the front desk. He might as well use the Hydrangeas for part of the assortment. No matter the meaning behind them, they needed to be used somehow. Maybe he could drop off a bouquet of them for Eren. To say that Levi’s there for him, nothing else. No, not at all. In the end, Levi ended up choosing to use the Hydrangeas and carnations. If there were eggs or anything on the latter flowers, Levi would flip his shit.

“The guy says he’ll totally pay us back,” Hanji whispered, covering the mic with her free hand. “And that- oh, yeah? Yeah.. Yup.. Yup, same location, thank you...-he’d drop off more later today-yeah, you too. Bye.”

“Good.” Levi replied. 

“What do you plan on doing with the Hydrangeas, midget?” Hanji peered over Levi’s shoulder, who was currently cutting off the flowers. 

“Call me midget one more time and I’m going to cut your fingers off,” Levi threatened, pointing the end of his scissors at Hanji’s nose. “And I’m just going to throw them around the shop.. Probably send a bouquet over to Eren’s parlor, who knows.”

“Awh! That’s so romantic!” Hanji stood straight and pivoted on their foot, laughing when Levi actually threw the pair of scissors at them. “You could have killed me!”

“That’s what I was fucking planning?” Levi scoffed.

The raven brought the bundle of flowers out of the green house and into the front shop, dropping them onto the countertop. Several petals fell off the flowers, but at that point, Levi didn’t really give a shit. Hanji already bought worm infested Hydrangeas; if they lose a couple petals, it wouldn’t really hurt them anymore. 

Hanji assisted with decorating the shop, spreading the colorful Hydrangeas around the shelves and doorframes. Thankfully, there were small pots that they could hang the flowers in.

“That should do it,” Hanji said, stepping back toward the counter to admire their work. “The shop looks so much more lively now!”

“It wasn’t beforehand? This is a flower shop, Hanji, how was it  _ not  _ lively?” Levi sighed, tying off the ends of the flower stems. 

“Your scowl killed the mood,” Hanji shrugged with a smirk.

“I’m going to go deliver these flowers before I stain the walls with your blood,” Levi shot up from his seat, stomping out into the street and away from Hanji. He could have sworn he heard them cackling even after he arrived at Eren’s parlor.

Levi pushed the glass doors open and stepped inside, taking in the scent of ink and pine sol. He noticed no one was at the desk, so he opted to just leave the bouquet on the counter.

“Welcome to Titan Tattoos,” someone said, stepping out from the back. “How can I help- Levi!”

Eren’s face popped into Levi’s vision, and boy, did the brat look like shit. His complexion was so much paler than the last time Levi saw him, not to mention the  _ extremely  _ dark circles under his eyes. Did the brat even  _ need _ to come to work? It looks like he was punched in both eyes and then drowned, only to be brought back for fun.

“You look like shit,” Levi chose to say, mentally smacking himself. What an idiot. 

“Thank you,” Eren flashed a quick smile, but it wasn’t.. Really a  _ smile _ , or at least the ones Levi has grown accustomed to. “What’s with the flowers?”

Eren gestured to the bouquet in Levi’s hands, which the raven quickly shoved into Eren’s hands. “Hanji ended up buying worm infested flowers and we needed to somehow get rid of them. And this is also because your friend or whatever told me you were having a rough week. Enjoy.”

“Oh,” Eren’s voice softened, his eyes trained to the blues and purples of the petals. “Thank you, Levi.. I really appreciate it.”

“I know it’s probably shitty of me to ask,” Levi started, feeling the tension from Eren increase. Maybe he shouldn’t. “Yeah, real shitty, sorry. I won’t ask.”

“No no,” Eren shook his head, clutching the bouquet close to his chest. “It’s fine.. Uh.. My mother died this week. I mean, not exactly  _ this week _ -this week, but like, a couple of years ago-this week, you get me?”

Levi nodded, choosing to not speak just in case Eren wanted to continue. And he was right.

“We got into a big argument about college and whatnots, since I chose to drop out without telling her,” Eren explained, setting the flowers onto the counter. Good, he was going to crush them if he wasn’t careful. “It’s just.. College was really stressful, and I already had a passion I was willing to follow without a degree of sorts. I only ended up opening this shop because a lot of my friends thought it would be a good idea. I used to help some chain that I can’t remember the name of, unfortunately. The owner liked me enough to help with opening this place-” Eren gestured to his parlor. “-but I was left to myself after that. I was going to become an author; guess what book I was going to fucking publish.

“My mother found out about all over this and went off at me about how irresponsible I was.. To be fair, I was a shitty kid, so I understood as much,” Eren laughed a little. Levi nodded again, letting the brunette know he was listening. “But I was so pissed off that I ended up bolting out of the house, as one angry, dumbass male does. My mother chased after me because that’s what good parents do, instead of letting their child run off to God knows where until they eventually reappear... And uh.. Well..”

“You don’t to tell me everything right now, Eren,” Levi interjected, sensing his uncomfort. “Besides, telling me your life story out in the open is not exactly very private.”

“Yeah really, sorry.. I kind of rambled on there, huh?” Eren scratched the nape of his neck with a shrug. “I can always tell you another time, if you’re up to listening to me.”

“As long as you’re actually okay with telling me instead of feeling like you have to, sure,” Levi replied. “I could always invite you to dinner or something.” Excuse me, hold on.

Eren laughed, covering his mouth with his hands. “You really suck when it comes to asking people out, you know? I’m so sorry to anyone you tried to flirt with.”

“Oh fuck you,” Levi grumbled. “But I’m serious, Eren. I’ll take you to dinner, and then you can tell me the rest of your story after. Only if you’re up for it.”

“Of course!” Eren beamed, shooting Levi a thumb’s up. “But still, this is the worst possible situation to ask me out in.”

“Again, “fuck you”, Eren,” Levi rolled his eyes and sighed to hide his smile. At least he was making the brat feel better. “When do you get off?”

“It’s my shop,” Eren shrugged, his smile actually not pained this time. “My rules. Maybe around eight?”

“Eren!” Mikasa’s voice echoed from the back, her footsteps approaching the front. “If you’re done flirting with the florist, I made us coffee. I know you’re not really up for much right now, but there are some bills and shit to deal with here.”

Eren groaned, throwing his head back angrily. “Fine fine, give me a minute.”

“Thanks,” Mikasa’s smile was quick, as if it never happened to begin with, but still existed. “Glad to see you’re feeling better.”

“Grumpy, old men seem to do the trick I guess,” Eren joked, earning a scoff and a glare from Levi. “Did I say anything that wasn’t the truth?”

“I’m not  _ that  _ grumpy,” Levi whispered, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “If this is settled, I’m going to have to go back to my shop. Hanji might have burned something, somehow, and I need to check.”

“See you at eight, then?” Eren asked, picking up his bouquet and shuffled over to the back entry. 

“See you at eight,” Levi confirmed. “You’re choosing, but I’m paying.”

“Uh huh, okay,” Eren nodded, waving Levi goodbye as he exited the parlor. “Mikasa, I can feel your stare.”

“Not my fault you’re in a better state than before that midget showed up,” Mikasa said. “It makes me happy to know that someone was able to bring a smile on your face.”

“He hasn’t been all over me this week about how “they’re here for me”, or whatever the fuck,” Eren grunted, waltzing into the back office with his bouquet of flowers. “Maybe I should get all the flowers that Levi gives me tattooed.”

“You’re already a damn zentangle, Eren, how would you fit anything else onto your skin?” 

“I’ll figure something out!”

“Sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for this chapter being late! I've been busy with school work and other personal shit. This personal shit includes Animal Crossing, because I'm sad, but we don't talk about that. I've actually had stuff to do, I swear lmao.
> 
> Flower meanings:  
> Carnations: Facination  
> Hydrangeas: "Thank you for understanding"  
> Dead Leaves: Sadness


	5. taking a break for a bit!

hey everyone! i'm going to take a break for a little while. the next chapter won't be updated until some further date. i'm currently focusing more of my attention on the current global--especially american--situation. my friends have gone out protesting and i'm terrified for them with what i've learned over the past two to three days. i have school work, and thankfully it's ending, but i'm rushing it because of how stressed i've gotten. i probably don't have the right kind of focus as of now to work on this story or really anything.

i hope you can understand! thank you if you do. if you don't.

well

i guess that's your problem, huh?

-lonelym00nstone


	6. Goldenrods, Honeysuckles, and Marigolds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while. Enjoy!

If you’ve ever gone on a date, how was the first one? How did you expect the date to go? What do you look for in a date? Dates are kinda... Confusing, in my opinion. Dates, especially the first one, are stressful and need adequate planning. There are couples, though, that kind of go with the flow of the date and plan around that. Those carefree dates were, and are, probably the best kind of dates. Instead of worrying about something being perfect, the two partners just figure it out and make it work. That seems like a perfect date, if I’ve got any knowledge of dates.

Never been on one.

Levi shooed Hanji away after they pestered him about another vase of flowers. He was getting sick of the almost daily arrangements.

“Leave me alone, Hanji, for the last fucking time!” Levi snarled, setting down a clean--freshly washed--vase. Of course he was still going to set out new flowers, though. “I’m doing what you want, aren’t I?”

“Oh come on, grump-bump,” Hanji rolled their eyes and smiled, handing Levi a pot of marigolds. “You’re sticking to yellow today, got it? Pick something that goes well with these!”

“There’s got to be some secret meaning behind these,” Levi muttered under his breath, cutting off two flowers. “Knowing you, that is.”

“Of course there’s a meaning! All flowers have meanings,” Hanji nodded. “Now go and choose another two or something, Mr. Grumps.”

“One of these days you’ll actually call me  _ Levi _ instead of those shitty nicknames you shit out of your ass,” Levi clicked his tongue, but did what Hanji wanted him to do. He was turning into some trained pet and he wasn’t having it. “You might want to get your asshole checked because you seem to push things out constantly.”

“No thank you,” Hanji laughed nervously, shaking their head frantically. “No one is going to see my naked butt.”

“Then stop talking before I put it on display for everyone’s disgust.”

“I don’t want people seeing my luscious bum, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t beautiful,” Hanji winked suggestively, which only main the hairs on the back of Levi’s neck stand up. 

“That was so disgusting holy shit,” Levi practically gagged. He didn’t want to talk about Hanji’s ass anymore and ended up randomly choosing two different flowers for their daily display. “I never want you to talk again.”

“Oh come on! You’ve dealt with me enough; you should be used to me talking like this!” Hanji cackled as she watched Levi put the two remaining flowers into the vase. “Oh? Goldenrods and honeysuckles, huh? I’m shocked we even have honeysuckles...”

“They’re a damn weed, but people seem to like them,” Levi would probably never understand why. They aren’t exactly something to ogle at. “They probably just want to eat the flowers. Apparently, they taste good.”

“They do!” Hanji agreed enthusiastically.

“If you think I’m ever going to  _ eat _ a flower, you’re wrong, shitty glasses.”

“Come on, they taste amazing! Just a drop of honey! That’s why they’re called-”

“Yes yes I get it! Stop talking!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been an entire month since I've last posted, huh? Or almost an entire month. Things have been a little chaotic around here and I've completely forgotten about this fic lmao. Apologies to anyone who was dying for the next chapter cause this one is hella short. I have no idea where I'm going with this fic, so I might end it early. Who knows? I'll have to do some planning (no, I usually never plan my fics ahead of time. Sometimes I do, but this one? Nope. I'm winging it). 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Again, sorry it's so short. I'll post again soon (hopefully)!
> 
> Flower meanings:
> 
> Goldenrods: Encouragement, Good fortune  
> Honeysuckles: Bonds of Love  
> Marigolds: Jealousy
> 
> Find me here!  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/BigOlOnigiri)
> 
> [Tumblr](lonelym00nstone.tumblr.com)


	7. Dahlias and Edelweiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren's POV.

Eren slumped his head onto the front desk, running his hands through his hair furiously. 

“Are you okay, Eren?” Armin questioned, noticing his friend’s distress. “Is there something wrong?”

“Armin, you can keep a secret, yes?” Eren whispered, staring at Armin intensely. “Because I need to tell you something.”

“Oh my...?” 

Eren dragged his blond friend behind the desk and squatted below so no one could see him or Armin. For a moment, the brunette watched Armin’s behavior--panicked, but that’s besides the point--before sighing heavily. “I’m trying to figure out how to ask someone out, but I’m not sure if I have the courage.”

“You... Eren Yeager...” Armin snorted. “Don’t have the courage? Is it that florist gu-”

“Shh! Shh shh shh!!” Eren hushed Armin with his hands, of which practically smacked Armin across the face. “God, Armin! Keep it down!”

“You afraid Mikasa will get mad?” Armin was pretty good at figuring out the meaning behind Eren’s actions. It was as if Eren were an open b-... Oh.

Eren grunted. “Well... Yes. I don’t really know if she likes him yet? I mean, she seems friendly enough whenever he comes over, but..”

“You don’t know if she’s faking it and actually planning to kill him, or if she genuinely doesn’t mind him being friends with you,” Armin finished with a nod. “She seems okay with the guy. You’ll still have to deal with her motherly attitude when you reveal your... escapade.” 

“I don’t think that’s the right word, Armin.”

Armin shrugged, pulling Eren up off the floor. Well... Mostly. Eren’s about two times the weight of the poor coconut, so it was really Eren complying and standing up. “I’m totally fine with you asking him out! Levi, right? His name, that is. You’re too busy yammering on about him that I had to ask Mikasa for his name.”

“Hush it,” Eren mumbled, his cheeks dusted pink.

“I’m just glad that you’re getting over Jean,” Armin sighed lightly, folding his arms. “He’s a douche..”

“You can say that again,” Eren chuckled. “But yeah, I am getting over him. I just realized how stupid it was for me to pout over him. It’s a waste of time wondering what I did wrong when it was really him.”

“Very much, yes,” Armin agreed. “Anyways, you going to ask Levi out today? Or sometime soon?”

All the confidence that Eren had built up from trash talking about his ex faded. Not really faded, because that implies that it disappeared slowly. More like... Disintegrated. “Uh.. I don’t.. Know? Yet??”

Armin facepalmed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn it's been a while. Sorry for the short chapter. Lately, I've been going through some intense stuff and I haven't focused on anything.. I'm getting a therapist soon and I'm just hoping things get better for me one day. I don't know when I'll update this next, and I'm thinking about discontinuing or giving it to someone. Can you do that? I mean, can you give a work to someone? I don't actually know .-.
> 
> I'm doing art commissions as well! I need money since I wasn't able to get a job this summer. And since I like drawing and it's a good distraction for my issues, why the hell not? You can check out the information on my instagram [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/CCOuDwGHn9N/) or Twitter (linked below). 
> 
> Flower meanings:  
> Dahlias: Good taste  
> Edelweiss: Courage
> 
> Come over and say hi!
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/BigOlOnigiri)
> 
> [Tumblr](https://lonelym00nstone.tumblr.com/)


	8. Irises and White Violets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to Levi's POV

What is the best way to ask someone out without them realizing that you’re asking them out at first? Do you hint at making plans for the following week? Do you just drop hints at a possible date or do you go all out? And by all out, I mean going right up to them and asking them, “go out with me” with zero hesitation and fear of embarrassment.

Not going to lie, those kinds of people scare me.

Levi slammed the back door of the flower shop shut angrily, his brows furrowed more than usual (and that’s saying a lot). He was pissed. Why was he pissed? Well... He was pissed at the fact that his favorite tea store closed down due to a lack of service. Was his consistent presence not enough? Every time that he entered the tea store, there was at least two dozen people meandering about. How was that not enough service? Who the hell knows at this point. Secondly, he was drenched. Some stupid driver--more than likely a reckless teenager trying to scratch shit off their bucket list--had purposefully driven into a puddle--a giant one at that--and splashed Levi right as he walked past. Thirdly, Levi had a whole three blocks to walk back to his shop (yes there were closer tea stores, but when you’re Levi, you’d do anything for tea). So, no tea, completely drenched, and had to walk three blocks in soggy, mushy clothes. Not to mention the amount of stares he received (and the amount of glares he reciprocated). 

“My my, grumpy-pants, you look like you just had some good sex with a fish,” Hanji snorted, following Levi up the stairs to his apartment. “All wet and stuff.”

“If you speak to me again today I will not hesitate to rip of your head and shove it deep within the gross cavities of your asshole, you moldy bread butt slice,” Levi threatened, his voice deep and purely fueled by seething hatred for the world. “I’m not going to put up with any kind of bullshit today.”

“Good lord, okay,” Hanji held back the need to laugh again, watching Levi drip his way into his room and lock the door shut. “You’re in such a wonderful mood right now.”

All Hanji received was silence.

\--

Hanji waited at the front desk for Levi to emerge in fresh, dry clothes. Well, they were also waiting for customers to arrive, but that’s besides the point. They wanted to see just how pissed off Levi still was; it would be good teasing material. Yes, Levi threatened to decapitate Hanji--no doubt he could--but they really, really, wanted to mess with him. 

And as if their prayers were answered, Levi burst through the swinging doors of the green room. He was in dry clothes, yes, but.. 

“Aren’t those your pajamas?” Hanji asked, a giggle present in their voice. 

“Shut up,” replied Levi, throwing on an apron and stepping behind the counter. “All my other clothes were still in the dryer. Remember last night when you puked in my closet?”

“Oh,” Hanji flashed a quick apology smile. “My bad.”

“These clothes were the only things that were dry,” Levi sighed. “If this day gets any worse, I’m eating a foxglove.”

“You realize that those phrases usually end up with the day getting worse-” Hanji was saying as the bell above the front door gingled. “Oh there we go...”

Hanji and Levi turned their eyes over to the front entrance to see a familiar--and most certainly welcomed--face. 

“Eren!” Hanji cheered, running around the counter and throwing her arms around the boy’s shoulders. “It’s so good to see you! How long has it been?”

“Quite a bit,” Eren replied sheepishly, rubbing the nape of his neck nervously. “Uh, Hanji, would you mind if I bought some flowers? It’s kinda hard to do that when you’re on top of me...”

“Ah yes!” Hanji exclaimed happily, dropping their arms to their sides. “What are you looking for today?”

“What mixture of flowers do you recommend when you’re asking someone out?” Eren asked.

Levi choked on his spit while Hanji’s glasses cracked slightly. Who in the world was Eren asking out? 

“Who’s the lucky person?” Hanji questioned, their intrigue growing with each second of silence. “Do we know them?”

“I can’t tell you,” the tattoo artist answered with a shush. 

Eren’s eyes drifted over to Levi’s. The older man’s pissed glare scared Eren ever so slightly, making the vicenarian jump. Levi’s day had just gotten worse. Curse the gods.

“Okay okay,” Hanji sighed, disappointed that they didn’t get Eren to say a name. They suspected Levi, though... How could it not be Levi? “What were you planning on getting?”

“I... Have no idea,” Eren shrugged. 

“You really plan on asking someone out without a plan? Are you stupid?” Levi snarled angrily. “Is your brain not functioning today or am I going nuts?”

“I was going to ask you and Hanji for ideas,” Eren gulped, a single drop of nervous sweat trickled down his right temple. “Since you’re both well-rounded about these sorts of things... Flower arrangements, I mean.”

“Right,” Levi huffed, folding his arms across his chest. “I’m not going to help. Figure it out on your own.”

“Wow you’re in a terrible mood,” Hanji remarked. They were shocked that Levi would turn Eren away. “Whatever then! Eren, I’ll help you!”

“Thanks...” 

Levi watched as Hanji pulled Eren down the first isle of flowers and chatted away about what each of them meant, the brunette boy listening carefully and considerately. It’s not that Levi was annoyed with Eren, no... No no, that was a lie. He was extremely annoyed. 

First, the whole morning shebang, and now this? It’s not like Levi wanted to ask out Eren eventually. Had the brat been leading Levi on this entire time? If he was, Levi would make him swallow maggots. 

“Uh, how about the irises and violets?” Eren hesitated, his pitch rising a few decibels. 

“The purple violets or the white ones?” Hanji gestured to the two available colors, nodding suggestively at the white violets. “I’d go with the white.”

“White it is,” Eren smiled, helping Hanji pick the two flowers up for his bouquet.

The two brunettes walked back to the front counter and handed their collection to Levi, who, with a disgruntled snort, turned around and gathered materials for the bouquet. 

“I hope your little date has fun with whatever the hell you have planned for today, brat,” Levi started, letting absolutely nothing hold back his anger. “Oh wait. You don’t have anything planned. You’d think at your age, you’d want to know exactly what you’re doing and not, you know, just sort of lead things on or “figure it out as you go”. I hope you chose right because we don’t want another failure like your last boyfriend, right?”

Eren’s eye twitched. He was no longer scared of Levi’s scowl, but irritated. “What the hell is up with you today?”

“I don’t know, maybe the unfortunate events that occurred this morning, along with this,” Levi snapped back, halting the bouquet-making. “Running into you this morning was not what I wanted.”

“Well too fucking bad, Levi,” Eren barked in return. Hanji stepped out of the way, knowing they’d likely be killed if they tried to interfere. “I’m so-o sorry that I wanted to come in today! You know why I didn’t have any plan for this little date thing? It’s because I don’t even know if they wanted to go out with me to begin with. I was nervous! I was thinking that they’d turn me down, and I’m pretty sure I’ve confirmed that theory.”

“Oh? How so? You got physic powers or some dumb shit?” Levi rolled his eyes. 

“Uh, Levi...?” Hanji whispered, receiving no response, let alone a glance.

“You!” Eren shouted at the top of his lungs, slamming his hands down on the counter top. Everything shook or rattled, as well as Levi's slouchy stature; he tensed. “I was going to as you out you little shit! I was nervous about coming in today because I didn’t know how to drop it on you! I figured I would ask you out with the bouquet immediately after I paid for it! You know, that stupid cheesy shit! But clearly, you’re in such a pissy mood today, that maybe this was the wrong thing to do.”

Levi’s eyes grew wide. Well fuck. _Well fuck._

“Keep the flowers,” Eren turned on his heel and walked toward the front door, stopping just for a moment more to speak. “It’s not like I’ll need them anymore.”

And with that, he left, storming down the sidewalk to his parlor. 

“A~and that’s what I meant by, “those phrases usually end up with the day getting worse”, Levi,” Hanji rubbed their forehead with a disappointed sigh. “You know, you shouldn’t take out your anger on your love interes-”

“Can it, Hanji,” Levi untied his apron and threw it on top of the flowers, stomping out of the main shop and into the green house. He was likely going to go curl up in his apartment for an hour or so. 

“This is going to be a long day....” Hanji said to them self, resting their hands on their hips. “Enter “Love Mediator”!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEGUGHEGHhHHHHHHhHHHH. It's been a while. I really do apologize for taking so long on this lmao. I have been motivating myself to work on things a lot more lately, this story included. I hope you can forgive me!
> 
> Flower meanings:  
> Iris: "Your friendship means so much to me, faith, hope, etc"  
> White Violets: "Let's take a chance"
> 
> Come on over and say hi!
> 
> [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/n1h1l0_/)
> 
> [Tumblr](https://lonelym00nstone.tumblr.com/)
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/N1H1L0_)


	9. Red Columbines and White Orchids

You ever get that feeling that you messed something up but won’t admit you messed up? You know what I’m talking about. That hit of pride, ye? Don’t we all love that feeling.

Levi slammed the door to his apartment shut, locking it just in case Hanji decided to barge in on his pouting. Was he pouting? No.. No totally not. He would never pout. Why would he? It’s not like he just pissed Eren off. You know, the person he was going to try and ask out eventually. No reason to pout at all.

Correct to his suspicions, Levi heard Hanji slam head first into his door. “Oh! You locked it!”

“What the actual hell is wrong with you?” Levi grumbled, not moving to unlock it for them. He wasn’t in the mood to have a bustling ball of energy run around his apartment. He dealt with them in the shop. That was enough. “You wonder why you’re so brain dead.”

“Pish-posh,” Hanji laughed, rubbing the center of their forehead. It was already starting to bruise. “So are you going to go apologize to Eren or are you going to sulk in here all day?”

Levi scoffed. “Why the hell would I apologize?”

Hanji smacked their head against the door again, but this time it was out of frustration and not because they stupidly ran into it. “You need to go apologize. He was here to ask you out! He likes you, Levi! That’s a big deal!!”

“Great, so he does,” sighed Levi unenthusiastically. It was great, actually. It was really great, but he probably just ruined his chances with his stupid tantrum. “The hell do you want me to do about that?”

“Dude,” Hanji said flatly. “Apologize. Get rid of your helpless pride and go apologize to Eren. He’d understand you if you’d explain to him why you were so grumpy. He doesn’t seem like the kind of person to hold a grudge for that long. A good explanation and apology typically lifts the tension after a fight.”

They were right, Levi admitted quietly to himself. He would never say that out loud though; Hanji would go crazy with happiness or whatever they get their energy from. “Fine.. I’ll apologize.”

“Good!” Hanji smiled, knocking on the door properly instead of ramming into it. “Now come out. You can’t apologize from your room. He’s probably at his parlor.”

Begrudgingly, Levi ran his hands down his face and groaned. Why was he having so much trouble with this? Good Lord, it’s not that hard. Really, where did all this pride come from?? 

Hanji waited patiently--which is pretty rare--for Levi to unlock his door and walk out into the short hallway separating his room and the stairs into the florist. Slowly, there was a quiet click of the lock and handle, the hinges creaking slightly as Levi opened the door and stepped out in front of Hanji. They smiled, dragging their friend down into the main shop and into one of the isles of flowers.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Levi shouted angrily, pulling his wrist out of Hanji’s grasp. “What’s your problem, lady?”

“You should get a bouquet of flowers for him!” Hanji suggested, a hint of playfulness in their voice. “Pick two colors!”

“Are you shitting me?” Levi glared into the isle and sighed, knowing Hanji wouldn’t let him go unless he listened to their orders. How irritating. “Fine. Red and white.”

“Hmm... Nice!” Hanji nodded. “Find two flowers of those colors that’ll look somewhat good together! We know your choices in flowers don’t exactly match sometimes.”

“I will destroy you, Hanji.”

“Pick a flower, Levi.”

Levi rolled his eyes and grabbed the first two flower types he saw that were red or white. It’s not like he really cared, he just needed to go and apologize to Eren. What the hell would flowers do to help?

“You suck at this,” Hanji sighed, chuckling under their breath. “Columbines and Orchids, huh?”

“I don’t give two shits what kind of flowers they are, Hanji. Just wrap them and let me leave this damn shop.”

“You’re still grumpy I see,” Hanji cackled, turning away to grab wrapping supplies before Levi could do anything. “Give me one moment~.”

Levi crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently, staring at the counter as Hanji delicately wrapped the flowers up. They arranged them well enough that it looked somewhat presentable. They really didn’t work that well, Levi thought to himself, rolling his eyes.

“Here you go~!” Hanji sang, handing Levi his bouquet. “Now shoo!”

Another eye roll and Levi was out of the shop and on the sidewalk, a wave of nervousness hitting him square in the chest. Why was he so nervous all of a sudden? It’s just an apology, good Lord. But even so, Levi begun walking toward the parlor with that nervousness still dancing around. 

“I swear to anything good left for me today, I will never do this ever again,” Levi muttered to himself, glaring straight ahead of him to keep himself focused. The stare scared a couple of passerbyers, but it’s not like Levi wasn’t used to that. Really, they were terrified. They looked at Levi as if he were about to murder someone with a bouquet of flowers. I mean, maybe, maybe not.

One last step and Levi was in front of Eren’s tattoo parlor, grip squeezing the life out of the flowers’ stems. He was still nervous--probably even more than when he first walked out of his shop--but he wasn’t going to stop now. It’s not like he could; not only was he spotted by the blond coconut--Armin, if he remembered correctly--but he wasn’t about to walk back into his shop with Hanji waiting. They would drag him back out and make a scene. 

Armin waved at Levi, gesturing to the back entryway with the, “I can get Eren out if you want me to” look on his face. Levi shook his head; he’d go in and wait for Eren.

The front door jingled as Levi stepped inside. Nothing had changed since the last time he visited the parlor. It smelled a little more like pine sol, but other than that it was the same.

“Hey!” Armin smiled, a knowing look in his sky blue eyes. “Eren’s in the back working on a customer. You here to see him?”

Levi nodded. “Yup.”

“He should be done in a moment. He was all grumpy when he came back from your shop,” Armin mentioned, his smile fading ever so slightly. “Did something happen?”

“That’s not something that you need to know,” Levi narrowed his eyes and sighed, rubbing his forehead. “I just did something stupid and I’m here to make up for it.”

“I see...” Armin hummed to himself and nodded. He probably caught on. Maybe Eren told him? Levi wasn’t a mind reader, he didn’t know. “Well, good luck. He was really pissed.”

Levi snorted. Great, thanks, brat. Because that totally helps. “Wonderful.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
> 
> Hi! Welcome. I'm getting to the better parts, don't worry. School begins within a week or two, so I'm mentally preparing myself for that. I'm also focusing on a personal story of mine that I plan on finishing during nanowrimo. Please excuse how horrible this chapter is lmao.
> 
> Flower meanings:  
> Red columbines: Anxious, trembling  
> White Orchids: Regretful, "I'm sorry flowers", sincerity


	10. Taking a quick break!

Hey everyone! Thank you for waiting so patiently for another chapter. However, I am here to disappoint lmao.

With school starting, I never realized how much time it was going to take out of my day, especially since I'm taking higher classes than my actual grade level (11th. This is the colonies grade levels lmao). I will probably not update for a little bit longer, even though I have already made you wait a good two weeks. Even with AO3, I haven't been able to do any of my personal stuff. Maybe it's that stupid little motivation mountain and I'm rolling down it instead of happily sitting at the top, but hey, whatever. I'll make it to the next mountain eventually. 

Thank you so much for being so patient and kind with me. I also wanted to thank everyone for 1000+ hits! Ereri fics have been dying as of recently, or maybe my story just isn't too popular. Not sure. Either way, thank you. 1k means so much to me, even if, looking at other fanfics, it isn't that big of a number.

Until next time when I get a break haha.

Ciao,

\- LonelyM00nstone


	11. discontinued

Heyo. Sorry to announce, but I'm discontinuing this story. I have no idea what to do with it anymore lmao. I'll write more things that go with Ereri of course, but I think I just really didn't plan this story out well. I hope you can understand! 

I'm not sure when I'll post a new (PLANNED) story since life seems to hate me this year (like it does with everyone else), but I'll update you on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/N1H1L0_) when I get the chance! If not on Twitter, then it'll be on [Tumblr](https://lonelym00nstone.tumblr.com/) since I use Twitter for art more often than AO3. 

See you then!  
\- LM


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